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A2002
ASSEMBLY, No. 2002
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
Assemblywoman ROSAURA "ROSY" BAGOLIE
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
���� "Tariff Transparency Act;" requires
disclosure of final retail price attributable to tariffs and other import
taxes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
concerning disclosure of tariffs on retail
products and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� This act shall be known
and may be cited as the "Tariff Transparency Act."
���� 2.��� As used in this act:
���� "Consumer" means a
natural person living in the State.
���� "Director" means the
Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and
Public Safety.
���� "Retail
establishment" means any business establishment, operating at a physical
or virtual location, which engages in selling products or services directly to
consumers in the State.
���� "Retail price" means
the posted price available to any customer of the retail establishment.
���� "Retail product"
means any merchandise, article, or commodity of any kind or class produced,
distributed or offered for retail sale for consumption by individuals other
than at the retail establishment, or in the performance of services rendered
within the household, and which is consumed or expended in the course of such
use.
���� "Tariff" means any
duty or trade-related import tax paid, as required by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, on any incoming raw material, component, or product at the point of
entry.
���� "Wholesale trade
firm" means any business establishment which purchases raw materials,
components, or products in bulk quantities for the purposes of reselling these
goods to a subsequent wholesale trade firm or a retail establishment.
���� 3.��� a.� A retail
establishment shall disclose the percentage or dollar amount of the retail
price of a retail product that is attributable to tariffs.
���� b.��� Disclosure of the tariff
portion of the retail price shall be:
���� (1)� visible on the point of
sale display tag as required by the "Unit Price Disclosure Act," P.L.1975,
c.242 (C.56:8-21 et seq.);
���� (2)� visible on the online
product page;
���� (3)� itemized on the printed
receipt provided at the conclusion of the point of sale transaction; or
���� (4)� disclosed in a manner
deemed appropriate by the director.
���� 4.��� a.� A retail
establishment shall maintain records of tariff calculations based on, as
applicable, wholesale invoices, customs invoices, tariffs schedules, and import
duty records.
���� b.��� Wholesale trade firms
and importers that provide products to other wholesale trade firms or retail
establishments shall maintain records on tariffs paid, based on, but not
limited to, U.S. Customs and Border Protection filing and recordkeeping
requirements, invoices to retailers and other direct customers, tariff
schedules, and import duty records.� Those wholesale trade firms and importers
shall provide retail other wholesale trade firms or retail establishments any
information concerning tariffs that is necessary for the establishments to
comply with the provisions of this act.
���� 5.��� a.� To ensure accuracy,
all retail establishments subject to the provisions of this act shall be
subject to periodic audits.� Compliance requirements shall be determined by the
director.
���� b.��� An audit request related
to tariff pricing disclosure shall be limited to compliance with the provisions
of this act, and shall not be used to provide the sole evidence of violations
to any other law or regulation.
���� c.��� A violation of this act
shall be subject to a fine determined by the director, but shall in no case
exceed $500 per violation.�
���� 6.��� The following shall be
exempted from the provisions of this act:
���� a.��� Retail establishments
generating less than $500,000 in annual revenue.
���� b.��� Products of which the
tariff-related price impact is less than two percent of the final retail price.
���� 7.��� The director shall by
regulation, provide for the manner in which the tariff portion of a retail
price shall be calculated and displayed, establish and modify a list of
commodities exempt from the provisions of this act, and provided further that
the director, in promulgating tariff-pricing regulations, shall not exempt
consumer commodities or retail establishments from the provisions of this act
except where compliance would be impractical, unreasonably burdensome, or
unnecessary for adequate protection of consumers.� The director shall maintain
and make public a clearly defined list of specific commodities exempt from the
provisions of this act and of all classes of retail commodities and all classes
of retail establishments required to be in compliance with this act and any
regulations issued pursuant to this act.
���� 8.��� a.� During the first
six-month period following the effective date of this act, compliance with the
provisions of this act shall be on a voluntary basis.
���� b.��� During the second
six-month period following the effective date of this act, compliance with the
provisions of this act shall be limited to retailers having $5 million or more
in annual sales.
���� c.��� This act shall be in
full effect 12 months following the effective date of this act.
���� 9.��� This act shall take
effect 90 days after enactment, except that the director may take any
anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the
implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
���� The bill requires retail
establishments to disclose the portion of a product's retail price attributable
to tariffs and trade-related import taxes.
���� Tariffs directly impact retail
prices but are rarely visible to the consumer.� As trade policies shift,
tariffs can become a hidden tax on households.� The bill requires clear,
standardized information available at the point of sale to help consumers make
informed purchasing decisions.
���� The bill requires retail
establishments to disclose the percentage or dollar amount of the final price
attributable to tariffs on either the price tag, online product pages, or sales
receipt.� Businesses are required to maintain documentation on the tariff
calculations and are subject to periodic compliance audits and fines for
noncompliance.
���� Retail establishments with
revenues below $500,000 in annual sales and products whose tariff-related
pricing impact is negligible are exempt from the bill.
���� The Director of the Division
of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety will develop
regulations to effectuate the implementation of this bill.�